The Playbook - my expensive paper weight
<rant>
I have always been a 'blackberry fanboi' so to speak. I live my life as an airline pilot largely on the road and blackberries have always by far afforded me the most practical funtionality and reliability.
So when rim announced they were releasing a tablet i was overjoyed. Even more so when i saw the specs and the promises that were made in the pre launch marketing hype. I bought my 32gb playbook within the first month of release to find out that despite the somewhat hefty price tag many of the features promised werent implimented just yet.
Ever the beliver, i waited...and waited...and waited...
Its been almost a year now and still;
-No skype
-no native msn messenger
-no native email
-bbm only via bridge and even so it lacks functionality...cant view/talk in groups on the playbook for example
-no netflix
-lack of interesting / usefull apps, which would be ok except for the next point
-still no ability to run android apps
-----Now we are being told that android apps will for the most part have to be ported to run correctly and some may never function 100% correctly
-Inability to run exsisting bb phone apps
-Bridge: "meh' and glitchy at best
-Document suit kinda lacking, cant even spell check or perform some other basic functions, excell for the playbook is...pityfull...
-Limited selection of e-readers
-folder and file management is 'meh'/clunky
-PDF functionality could be better
And as it turns out the 7 inch screen size though it seemed a good idea at the time is pretty much good for reading e-books but not all that great for anything else. Though i suppose choosing a 7 inch tablet was my choice so i cant really knock RIM for that one.
For all of the above reasons my playbook has been sitting largely unused on the shelf at my apartment i dont even take it with me on most trips anymore. I have a laptop which i carry, the playbook was meant for quick on the go stuff browsing/checking email/social media etc in the terminal or on in the few mins between a turn around etc. Even inflight entertainment when deadheading etc.
As it turns out the above issues result in me still using my torch for the most part for emails, msn etc etc and although i can store the electronic versions of all my company manuals/aircraft manuals etc on the playbook for quick reference the 7inch display and the pdf wackyness means its still difficult cumbersome to view a regular sized pdf page in page view.
The end result of all of the above means i am stuck with a $500 internet browser...which after the recent price cuts..is now only worth about $200-250 at best.
Infact its worse than that, i am thinking of replacing the PB with a 10.1 galaxy tab which can do everything the pb can and more with the exception of bridge/bbm (which i dont use anyway really due to the limitations) and runs android nativly. However, now that RIM has slashed the prices on the playbook the resale value of my PB even in mint condtion is virtually nil.
Bestbuy which runs a electronics trade in program where u can trade in for credit towards a new device informed me that the playbook has no trade in value ( yes, $0 ) and they wont accept it. The trade in value on a used ipad2 is more than the current retail of the PB. Even a used Ipad1 and most of the android 2.0/3.0 tablets have some trade in value.
I put the device up for sale on social media a few days ago '$180 or best offer" and thats for a device in pristine condition with all origonal cables/chargers/manuals and free playbook leather case/stand. Not even a single query.
Yes, i know OS 2.xxxx release for the PB is just around the corner and will address some of these concerns but i am tired of waiting for things that were promised at launch only to be told every month "not this month, next month we promise" and the reality is that android app player still has issues and even when implimented will still be reliant on coders who are willing to port their apps or other peoples apps to the playbook and even then due to the fact that some apps may rely on android specific APIs and functions true cross platform functionality may never be 100% achieved.
With the small userbase that the PB has even 1 year after release i just dont see that it is going to get the critical mass needed to push devlopers into releasing certain high quality apps on the PB platform.
Overall, i have to say i am dissappointed with this device and more so with RIMs handling of the device post launch.
</endrant> :(